The Top Bedbug-Infested Cities Are Not What You'd Think They'd Be

Terminix released its annual list of the top 15 U.S. cities most infested with bedbugs and it's Christmas morning all over again! If Christmas morning was the scariest and also most disgusting holiday of the year.

I won't make you wait to find out if you need to sanitize your entire town so here's the list:

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

Detroit, Michigan

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Cleveland-Akron, Ohio

Los Angeles, California

Dayton, Ohio

Chicago, Illinois

Columbus, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California

Denver, Colorado

Toledo, Ohio

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Baltimore, Maryland

New York, New York

Interestingly, New York City came in last; which is not what you'd expect seeing as it's often viewed as the birth place of bedbugs. (And who can ever forget this horrifying video?! I had to wash my eyes with bleach after watching 10 seconds of it.)

The Huffington Post (via BoingBoing) has some tips for how to avoid bedbugs that I'm going to have tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. They are as follows:

Set your luggage down in the bathroom (unless your room has tile flooring)

Pull the bed sheets off the mattress

Use your flashlight app on your smartphone to inspect the mattress — including the seams — for bugs as well as small dark blood stains (from the bug's excrement, if you must know)

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Cosmopolitan participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.